


Crashing Foreign Cars

by Jersey_Jimmy



Series: Gunbuster GTS-R [2]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Top o Nerae! Gunbuster
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Comfort/Angst, Crossover, Gen, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Minor Character Death, Murder, Street Racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25726282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jersey_Jimmy/pseuds/Jersey_Jimmy
Summary: Asuka had hoped that taking matters into her own hands on the Shuto Expressway would heal her scarred psyche. Now, she hopes two of her racing rivals can help her answer why it didn't. Takes place in a street racing AU of Gunbuster.
Relationships: Amano Kazumi/Takaya Noriko, Ayanami Rei/Souryuu Asuka Langley
Series: Gunbuster GTS-R [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866115
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Crashing Foreign Cars

**Author's Note:**

> hey! this fic takes place a fair bit of the way into the overall narrative, and I wrote it first to get a general feel for how to write this whole AU. if you ever wonder why it keeps getting pushed back to the last part of the series as I write more GTS-R, that's why. that being said, I'd recommend you read whatever chronologically comes before this that I've posted so far first.

“...are you not hungry, Asuka? You haven’t taken a single bite of yours yet.”

Asuka’s eyes darted up towards Kazumi, then back down at the okonomiyaki she’d prepared for her. As kind as the gesture was, it was... difficult for the redhead to pretend to be anything close to hungry at the moment. Her mind remained fixated on the events of the other night... she still wasn’t sure she hadn’t dreamt all of it.

Yet here she was, sitting across from Kazumi and Noriko. What other reason would there have been for the White Rose herself to invite her over for a meal? More importantly, why else would she be so... _worried_ about her? If even Kazumi broke her generally icy demeanor to express concern, then...

... _did_ she make the right choice?

“O-oh, uh... nah, I’m not really in the mood to eat right now... I-I appreciate you going through all this, though.” Asuka struggled to maintain a smile as she thanked Kazumi for the meal, but mere seconds later, the forced expression fell apart. She figured both of her rivals already knew she’d been faking it, anyway.

“...you... probably wanna know why I killed him, huh?”

Kazumi nodded. “I would appreciate it if you could tell us, yes... at least as much as you’re comfortable with.”

“To be honest, we... already kinda know the basic idea of what happened between you and him,” chimed in Noriko, who set down her utensils. “Like Kazumi said, you don’t have to tell us everythin’ if you aren’t up to it, but...”

“...no, it’s... it’s fine. I mean, again, you went through all this trouble, so... I might as well let you two know why.”

Asuka pushed her okonomiyaki off to the side and folded her hands beneath her chin. She locked eyes with Kazumi for a few seconds, then Noriko. Each of them gave an assuring nod.

And so, after a deep breath, Asuka began to tell her story. “So... Shinji and I had been friends since I got into racing, and at first there was nothing wrong between us... I mean, shit, having him around’s probably the only reason I didn’t get busted within a week of coming here. Everything was more or less fine for the first few months I was here, and... I think what did it was when I started going out with Rei... yeah, because it was pretty much immediately after he saw us together for the first time that he started to change.”

“Sounds like he was only bein’ nice to you so you’d get with him, then,” Noriko concluded. “Then once he knew he had no chance...”

“Yeah, he just became... _unpleasant_ to be around. Started blowing up at me over the stupidest things... then one time he gets so pissed off he thinks it’s alright to squeeze my neck like a tube of goddamn toothpaste.”

Noriko and Kazumi’s expressions were about what Asuka expected when she looked up from the table, a mix of shock and worry. “I can’t believe his demeanor changed that quickly...” commented Kazumi, who’d seemed to have noticed the faint marks on the redhead’s neck. “And that he’d just strangle you like that...”

“I can,” Noriko added. “How long was it before you got together with Rei again? Four months, right? So that means he spent all that time tryin’ to get you to fall for him, and then he sees you with her... and the facade falls apart right then and there.”

“...awful...” Kazumi shook her head, letting out a sigh. “...erm, apologies, Asuka. You may continue.”

“Thanks...” Before she did, though, Asuka shifted in her chair, reaching down towards her back pocket. When her hand emerged, it held a flask, which the redhead unscrewed and took a sip from. “...anyway... you remember when I ended up in the hospital back when I fell off that bridge, Kazumi?”

The White Rose’s eyes widened with shock. “He... did something to you in the hospital...?”

“I mean, it was open to visitors and nobody knew he tried to choke me out at the time... you _really_ think he would’ve missed a shot at 15 minutes alone with me while I was too doped up to think straight?” Asuka groaned, taking another swig from her flask. Her face contorted as she gulped down whatever was inside; if nothing else, it was a decent enough distraction.

The apartment otherwise remained completely silent until Noriko finally, hesitantly spoke up. “D’you at least... not remember most of it? I mean, you said you were drugged up, so-”

“Noriko, people drink to forget. If I had nothing to forget, I wouldn’t drink.”

One more drawn-out sip, and Asuka finally set her now-empty flask off to the side. “I filed a restraining order against him pretty much the moment I got out of the hospital, but it was basically useless. I knew he’d been creeping on Rei and I even before I got hurt, and it wasn’t like a piece of paper was gonna stop him... and at that point, what other options did I have? I can’t take him to court because I’d get busted, and even if I could, you _really_ think they’d take my side?!”

Asuka took a moment to compose herself, and the apartment once again fell into silence. Noriko and Kazumi exchanged a glance, and at the behest of her mentor gesturing towards the redhead, Noriko headed over towards the other side of the table and took a seat beside Asuka, gently patting her on the back.

“ _...Danke.”_ The redhead heaved a heavy sigh. “So... the only option I really had that wouldn’t fuck me over too was getting rid of him myself. I was just lucky enough that I know the C1 well enough by now that I could make it look like an accident.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you about another thing,” Kazumi interjected, the details of that night becoming clearer. “If you had really shunted him into those pillars like you’d said... but your M3 hadn’t suffered any damage when you came back to us... Asuka, when you wrecked his car, what did it feel like?”

“Eh? Well, it... felt like time slowed down, I guess, but isn’t that how most wrecks feel? Though, come to think of it, there weren’t _any_ dings on the bumper...” Her mind was fuzzy, no doubt an effect of the drink, but Asuka could definitely recall Kazumi talking about something called “Speedbreaker.” “Was that the... Speedbreaker thing you’ve been going on about...? _Scheiße,_ you weren’t lying, huh...?”

“I... don’t think I have time to get into that right now. Although...” Kazumi turned to Noriko, then towards the glass doors leading to her balcony, through which she saw the sun beginning to creep up from behind the seemingly-endless expanse of skyscrapers. “...hey, Asuka, you said you walked here, right? I have things to do tonight, but would you mind if Noriko took you to her place and brought you home later?”

While Noriko normally would have protested Kazumi making plans for her like that, one look at Asuka told her the last thing the redhead needed was to be sent home alone. “Yeah, I don’t mind if you wanna keep ventin’ to me... plus, I could run down how Speedbreaker works for you.”

“...you two go through way too much effort for me, y’know?” With a weak laugh, Asuka slung one arm over Noriko’s shoulder. “Sure, why not... and hey, Kazumi, seriously... thanks for doing all this for me. Felt... _nice..._ being able to tell you what’s been going on.”

Kazumi’s lips curled into a gentle, _friendly_ smile, something Asuka once thought she’d never see from the White Rose. “Feel free to talk to me whenever you need to... and before you go, if you’re up to it, I’d like to see you on the Haneda on Wednesday night. Just you and I.”

The redhead smirked. “Sounds like a challenge... don’t worry, I’ll be there. C’mon, Noriko.”

* * *

The drive back to Ohta Speedworks - and, by extension, Noriko’s apartment - had taken quite a bit longer than usual, primarily a result of the early-morning traffic starting to really pick up. Fortunately, it had the side effect of giving Noriko all the time in the world to give Asuka a primer on the ins and outs of Speedbreaker. All this time, Asuka had simply thought of it as nothing more than a complex modification... its true nature was something she _never_ would have considered.

Still, the topic only reminded her of how she’d used that very same power to unceremoniously dump Shinji’s Renault Clio V6 into a concrete pillar. That, in turn, brought her mind back to the heinous acts he’d committed against her... acts that still pained her to think about.

But... she won, didn’t she? He was gone now. He couldn’t do anything else to her or Rei.

So why didn’t she feel like she’d won?

Noriko’s apartment wasn’t particularly... _nice,_ as expected from the repurposed second floor of a tuning shop, but Asuka could see that she’d definitely made it her own. Framed magazine ads for Vipers and Neons of years’ past lined the walls, accompanied by posters of several mecha anime and heavy metal groups. While the bathroom was separated from the rest of the apartment - which was good, since Noriko had decided to wait until she had a guest to take a shower - her bed wasn’t, sitting right there in the corner of the room beside her computer and an Ibanez bass guitar.

The redhead, meanwhile, had spent the last few minutes lying on the couch, half-watching whatever was on the television. It certainly wasn’t attention-grabbing enough to distract her from thinking about either Shinji or the “race.” _Not really fair to call it one,_ she thought to herself; “hit job” seemed like a more accurate term.

A few minutes passed before Noriko finally emerged from the bathroom, having thrown on a Monster Magnet shirt and some sweatpants. “You need anything, Asuka?” she asked, making her way over to the couch; she merely sat down on the floor upon seeing her guest’s sprawled-out state. “If, ah... you just want to talk about it some more, you can. I’m not really the best at givin’ life advice, but...”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” answered Asuka. “As long as you’re listening, that’s good enough.”

There was a pause, during which the meaningless chatter of the TV briefly overtook the conversation. Eventually, though, Asuka would heave a sigh and continue, “I’m starting to wonder if I even did the right thing. Like, I know I told you everything he did to me, but...”

“Is this about what you said earlier? About how you thought gettin’ him out of your life would make you feel better, but it... well, it didn’t?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Asuka stretched her arm out and clawed at the TV remote for a few seconds before managing to shut off the white noise, then promptly pulled herself up to allow Noriko to join her on the couch.

“It still pisses me off so much... that he had the fucking nerve to think just because he got me into the racing scene, I was _obligated_ to be his girlfriend or something, not to mention everything he did _after_ I put my foot down.” Asuka’s expression grew more and more forlorn as she continued. “And... I thought that... if I got rid of him, regardless of how I did it, that feeling would go away... but here I am whining to you about it.”

Noriko wasn’t really sure what to say. Talking others out of the doldrums had always been Kazumi’s area of expertise moreso than hers, but Asuka was a friend, if a belligerent one. She had to at least say _something._

“Asuka, you can’t _make_ trauma go away... it’s only gonna hurt you if you try doing that. You remember how I told you how I spent most of a year in a wheelchair? After I started walking again and went through physical therapy, I tried tellin’ myself it was all behind me, too, but... then I’d fall flat on my ass out of nowhere and I’d be right back to moping about it. Didn’t break the cycle until I accepted I wouldn’t be back to a hundred percent for a long time. I... know it’s not as serious as what you went through, but... you get where I’m comin’ from, right?”

“I... I guess I do, yeah,” the redhead admitted, turning to look Noriko in the eye. “Y’know, I said this before, but I think talking to you and Kazumi about it’s helped a bit. Usually I just assume everyone sees me as a douchebag and wants nothing to do with me... honestly, I kind of don’t blame ‘em. So, it... it means a lot that you’d hear me out. And, uh, while I’m being all sappy like this, sorry for treating you like shit when you started racing. If I’d known you’d be here for me now, then...”

Noriko gave her rival a warm, forgiving smile. “Didn’t bother me then, doesn’t now... you can come to me if you ever wanna talk about somethin’, alright? Goes for Kazumi, too.”

“I’ll be sure to.” Asuka, responding with an equally friendly grin, offered her hand to Noriko - and naturally, her rival accepted it. “Oh, right, one more thing I wanted to ask... did the Clio get wrecked beyond repair, or...?”

“Actually...” Noriko proceeded to fish into one of her sweatpants’ pockets, and out of it emerged a key with the familiarly diamond-shaped Renault badge on it. “Coach managed to get his hands on it and brought it back here to save it... I’ve had the key on me all night because I was gonna ask if you wanted it.”

Asuka’s eyes fell upon the key and remained laser-focused on it as she took a moment to contemplate Noriko’s offer.

“...you can have it,” she’d eventually answer. “Consider it a gift, alright? You deserve it after being there for me the past couple of nights.”

Noriko, understanding Asuka’s reasons for refusing the car, nodded as she returned the key to her pocket. “Thanks, Asuka.” With that, she rose to her feet and started off towards her bed. “I’m gonna pass out, but... if you wanna go anywhere later, just lemme know, got it?”

“ _Verstanden..._ thanks for all this.”

And so, as Noriko crawled into her bed and drifted off to sleep, Asuka would soon grab a blanket and do the same on the couch. As she shut her eyes, and as her conscious thoughts soon morphed into dreams... for the first time in what felt like forever, instead of reliving the past, she dreamt of what was to come - flying down the Haneda Route in her M3 with the White Rose's RX-7 in her rear-view.

For once, a hopeful look to the future.


End file.
